Poll: A Second Language

[Yomandude]

America has the worst language education system of all the language education systems. There's no excuse for learning Spanish for ten years and not being able to hold a conversation. I wish I could explain what I mean by that better, but it's just... it just is!

Well, anyway, I know enough Japanese grammar/syntax to translate with a dictionary, which I actually learned quite recently from a certain infamous imageboard. I'll probably have conversational level down by the start of next summer. As for languages past that, I'll probably keep going until my brain can't take it any more. I intend to travel the world eventually, with priority on Belgium, France, Norway, and Japan, but there are so many reasons even besides that for being multilingual. Think about how healthy it is for your brain to do something like that, for example, and how regular higher thinking's been linked to decreased risk of Alzheimer's.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/alzheimers-disease-risk-decrease_n_1519427.html#slide=980033

 

[Fredvdp]

My first language is a dialect of Dutch. My second language is English and I also speak a little French and German.

I learned English by watching a lot of TV as a kid. I live in one of those countries where fiction is subtitled and it helped a lot. I also played Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis at the age of seven, and at the time I only knew the basics of English.

 

[Starik20X6]

I used to be able to speak German, but by now I'm way out of practice.

 

[JediMB]

This is my second language. My first being Swedish.

I'm also slowly working on learning Japanese.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm Dutch, but I could already speak a good word of english in kindergarden because of all the movies I was watching.

I'm not very versed in german, but I can understand it pretty good.

 

[Arfonious]

I speak Swedish, English and German

And a few sentenses French and Spanish

 

[Bloodstain]

I speak English (obviously), German (my first language), French and a bit of Spanish.

I am also aspiring to learn Latin and especially ancient Greek - it will be useful for studying philosophy.

 

[TheCaptain]

English is a second language to me. I used horrible at learning new languages, but I've gotten better since I started reading, playing games and watching movies in English. Wouldn't know if that'd work for other languages too, since my main motivation comes from the fact that German dubs/translation usually suck arse. Big time.

 

[Ed Classified]

My first language is Dutch and the second one speaks for itself.

 

[Jowe]

I speak English, Australian and American.
In all seriousness I used to be fluent in French, but would probably only just be able to hold a conversation now, so I put; No, but I want to.

 

[Angry Camel]

I'm considering either German, Italian or Japanese. I learned the latter two throughout highschool and Italian in primary school, but I just wasn't interested.

 

[Death Carr]

I did 3 years of Japanese in high school.
I can understand and write a bit, but not much.
I can't really speak it.
Most of what I learned is from anime.

 

[SckizoBoy]

*wonders if anyone speaks fluent Esperanto*

Anyway, English is my first language (wow, what a change from all those 'foreigners'!), but since I'm a BBC, I speak Cantonese. Also speak Japanese along with casual French and German.

 

[Xaio30]

Swedish and English fluently.
In the process of learning D'ni.
Knows a tiny bit of Japanese and Russian but would love to learn more.

 

[namhorFnodroG]

Due to the fact that I'm from Sweden, is Swedish my native language. I also speek English (Duh) and Spanish. I can talk a little French, since i have relatives in France. I cannot talk French as good as i talk Swedish/English/Spanish, but i can understand a basic conversation and ask a few questions without any difficulty.

 

[Roggen Bread]

Being European: Dutch, English, German, French. In order of mastery.

This is normal in Europe. I am not special. :'(

Actually. This is not normal in Europe. It is normal for dutch people because we stupid arrogant Germans come to your country and expect you to understand us. That's why most of you dutch people speak German. I think.
If I am not completely mistaken, the Germans are a very important factor for your tourism industry.

I myself use English when I am in the Netherlands, except when I am prompted to use German. Speaking for me: I would love to speak enough dutch to get by, because I am in the Netherlands quite often, but I don't have the time and the intellectual capacity to learn it.

I speak German, English and very little Italian.

So basically: three languages are quite normal, 4 are very good, but nothing to be amazed about.
5 and above are quite exceptional.

 

[rokkolpo]

I speak Dutch, because I am Dutch.
And as you can see I can speak English rather well.

My German isn't really noteworthy, but I can manage myself in German speaking countries.
For that reason I've put down ''I speak more than two''.

 

[rokkolpo]

Being European: Dutch, English, German, French. In order of mastery.

This is normal in Europe. I am not special. :'(

Actually. This is not normal in Europe. It is normal for dutch people because we stupid arrogant Germans come to your country and expect you to understand us. That's why most of you dutch people speak German. I think.
If I am not completely mistaken, the Germans are a very important factor for your tourism industry.


So basically: three languages are quite normal, 4 are very good, but nothing to be amazed about.
5 and above are quite exceptional.

This guy got it by the right end. xD
Only the Dutch are crazy enough for this, well actually most of the Benelux.
I'm not sure if they learn multiple languages in French Belgium.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

I'm Dutch, and speak English pretty well (Most shit didn't get dubbed here, so I learned it through television and games.) and I have a basic understanding of French and German at best.

Other than that, I can understand Ani-Japanese for obvious reasons, and I can understand a fair bit of Hindi due to my mother's ethnicity.

 

[StBishop]

I wouldn't say I can speak a second language.

I studied Japanese for 9 years in school and I taught myself rudimentary pleasantries in German when I was in Highschool because I dated a girl with German family.